Ball joint replacement - learn from my mistakes!

I just finished replacing the ball joints on my 06 LGT this evening. I've done a lot of work on this car and this ranks near the top of unfavorable jobs. It was a major pain in the ass!

 

Now, the process is pretty straight forward and has been documented before. I spent some time searching and reading tips and tricks since I knew the common issues that most have when swapping them. I have had the tapered stud out of the LCA before (get one of THESE - cheap and works GREAT!) so I wasn't worried about that coming free. Pulling the ball joint out of the knuckle is what I was worried about, as there is not a real great way to get enough leverage to break the rust bond the joint has formed with the knuckle.

 

After spending most of Friday evening fighting the LH side (and being pretty unsuccessful trying to hammer and pry on it every which way) trying to get the BJ out of the knuckle, I was pretty defeated. I slept on it and decided to try searching around again and giving it a go the next day. I stumbled across this thread on one of the outback forums and figured I'd give it a shot - what did I have to loose at this point. I wish I had found this sooner! I had the LH out within 5 minutes it was that easy. In the process of popping it out there were no marks left on either the knuckle or the LCA. Success!

 

I then ran into another snag trying to get the new BJ installed. With the ball joint out, the corner can pivot around and be a pain to maneuver to the position you need to to be to get the new joint in the knuckle and lined up with the LCA hole. I fought this for a while, and actually ended up tearing the boot on the new joint in the process. Boo. So, what I ended up doing was moving the knuckle so that the hole in it and the hole in the LCA were lined up on top of one another. I then ran a ratchet strap from the LCA mount, around the brake rotor, and over to part of the front cradle (really, wherever you can find a place to hook it). I then tightened the strap until it was just snugged up. With this in place, I could now use my floor jack to lift the rotor/knuckle without it flopping all over the place and coming out of alignment with the LCA. I raised the knuckle high enough to get the BJ in the knuckle, the guided the tapered stud into the LCA as I lowered the jack and everything pretty much popped into place. Success again!

 

I finally got the left side done after figuring out these tricks and it probably took me a total of 4 or 5 hours over two days. Went to do the right-hand side and it took me about 20 minutes. No joke.

 

Hopefully this helps others who live in locations where rust can be an issue. These may be obvious so some, but they helped me out tremendously so I'd thought I'd pass them along. Oh yeah, get some PB Blaster too...

……….Pulling the ball joint out of the knuckle is what I was worried about, as there is not a real great way to get enough leverage to break the rust bond the joint has formed with the knuckle……...

 

Here is how to get the necessary leverage, with a tapered bull pin:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/separating-lca-ball-joint-tie-rod-knuckle-medieval-style-113347.html?t=113347&highlight=lca+removal

I had came across that thread while searching, but wasn't sure where I might be able to source a large bull pin (at least not same-day). Rather than drive around hoping to find one I gave the socket method a shot since I have many of those on-hand. Now that the car is back together I might try to find one in case I have to do them again.

This tricked helped me out with my BJs. Great tip!

This tricked helped me out with my BJs. Great tip!

You need help with BJ's

he said bjs and tip in the same post lol

Great advice. Thanks for sharing and linking back to the older post.

 

I have to replace the LH drive axle on my 98 Legacy soon, and I'm very worried about the ball joint, especially the pinch bolt. I sprayed the bolt with PB Blaster for a week and then tried a 50/50 mixture of acetone/tranny fluid for a few days, but the bolt won't budge (I'm in Canada, so everything is rusty).

 

I definitely don't want to break that bolt off, so I think I'll leave the ball joint in place for now and remove the two bolts on the strut instead, or pop the stud out of the LCA.

 

I am trying to be proactive about future repairs, so if anyone has any suggestions about getting the pinch bolt out, please let me know.

 

Cheers.